Page 8 of Power of Draken

I don’t have any, but I quickly rinse out three vials that I use for mixing my daily tonics. Ellie pours a thumb-length of amber liquid into each. “To Operation Lifeline. May it transcend our graduation,” she announces.

“May it bring help to those who need it,” I add.

“May it not get us caught and arrested for treason,” Trish mutters.

Chapter5

Rowan

“To not getting caught!” Ellie whisper shouts, clapping Trish on the back.

“To not getting caught!” I echo and we drink up, even Trish. The liquid is strong and fiery, with an initial sweetness that lures the senses before turning sharp as it hits the back of the throat, making my eyes water. Honeyed whiskey. The kind that’s aged in oak barrels and reserved for special occasions. I can feel its heat spreading down to my chest, warming me from the inside out. I don’t want to know how Ellie got her hands on it, but gods is it good.

Trish closes her eyes and moans in bliss.

“I’ve got—” Ellie starts.

“No. Nope. No way,” says Trish. “Do not tell me. If we are caught, that’s one less thing for me to know.”

“I was going to say that I’ve got a good feeling about today,” Ellie says innocently. “And absolutely not imply that I have another bit stashed somewhere.”

Trish winces. She is the meekest, nicest person I know and I feel a bit guilty for dragging her into danger. But of everything I’ve done at the Spire, Lifeline is the most important. And Trish is the right person to pass the torch to when Ellie and I can’t do it anymore.

I pull away the tapestry and door leading to the underground tunnels and hurry through it. We have until dawn before we’ll be missed, which is never enough time. And if we are caught… We’ll be answering to Kai Grayson as well as the commandant now, and I’m not sure which makes me more terrified.

I immediately regret thinking in that direction, because Kai’s dangerously beautiful face takes up residence in my mind at once and makes my core heat. His and Kyrian’s. Great. The damn blue-eyed warriors are so noticeable all the time, that I’ve nicknamed them the azure twins in my head. Not that they really look anything alike. But they do move alike. Like preternatural predators. Them and Logan. The third triad member who I’ve fortunately not had a need to speak with yet.

One day I’m going to do a study on the correlation between physical beauty and ruthlessness. It’s there for sure, and it’s not limited to men. My mother and aunt are proof of that.

“So,” Ellie says too casually as we make our way through the passages. “I heard Collin Chambers got his own squad. Since when do enchanters get a squad leader billet? Especially ones who pull the shit he did in the mess hall. I still can’t believe it.” Translation, I still can’t believe you talked to your mother after he was an ass. Or that she listened.

I cross my arms defensively. “I just mentioned that I thought Grayson wasn’t giving Collin fair consideration. Which he really wasn’t. I dislike unfairness.”

“Oh. Well, that certainly explains why you aren’t furious with Collin,” Ellie says with a snap of her fingers. “He was, after all, totally fair in everything he said.”

I groan, trying to think of a way out of the conversation, but she is as tenacious as a terrier when she wants something. And she knows she has me trapped right now. That’s why we are having this conversation in the tunnel. If I didn’t love Ellie so much, I’d strangle her.

“Collin said a stupid thing,” I say with a patience I don’t quite feel. “He’d just been told that all his hard work and effort were irrelevant and he got upset. So yes, he got caught up in the moment and said one stupid thing—for which he apologized profusely. In public and in private. Given how much Collin has put up with for me, I can forgive him a frustrated outburst.”

“I think -”

“No. Stop.” I put up my palm. Ellie is everything I’m not. She is gorgeous and brave and outgoing and she has every man at the Spire drooling over her, and many of the women too. I don’t know when she’d last even slept in her own bed. In her world, discarding one man for another is a Tuesday.

I’m her opposite in every way. I like steadiness. I like commitment. And I know what a rarity it is to have someone willing to look past my awkwardness, and my often pigeon-toed gait, and constant mishaps and give me a chance to be loved. Collin was the first boy who ever wanted to kiss me. The only boy. “You asked me why, and I explained. That’s as far as this conversation goes. I didn’t ask for advice and I’ve no intention of defending my feelings.”

“Alright, point made,” Ellie raises her hands quickly. “You do you.”

“You are really letting this go?”

“Oh, hell no.” Ellie gives me a friendly shove and I can’t help but laugh. But at least she drops the interrogation line for now.

Three quarters of an hour later we are in Doverly, the city that hosts Spire East. The buildings becoming lower and thinner the farther we get from the Spire complex. Wide streets designed for troop movement and parades give way to narrowed paths that wind through the poorer residential sections, where the only well kept structures are the statues of our war heroes and the royal family. The smells get progressively more oppressive with each step, escalating from the stinks of old trash to ones of piss to ones I’d rather not try and distinguish.

A group of drunk men singing an off-key bawdy tune lumber past us down the street in search of a new watering hole.

“Doesn’t anyone sleep around here?” Trish asks as we give them a wide berth.

“Not at all,” says Ellie. “Doverly excels at producing two things: soldiers and breweries. You’ll get used to it.”

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